How to Train Boys
by wintergreen825
Summary: Lily Evans finally reached the end of her patience with these BOYS!


**Legal Disclaimer:** I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

 **Warning:** This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if that's you.

 **Author's Note:** What made James stop being a toerag?

 **Submitting Info:**  
 **Stacked with:** MC4A; House Competition (Term 4)  
 **House:** Hufflepuff  
 **Role:** Player (7th Year)  
 **Category:** Pre-Round Challenge  
 **Prompt:** Lisa (Era)  
 **Representation(s):** Rape Culture; Personal Boundaries; Price of Actions; Hogwarts; Lily Evans  
 **Bonus Challenges:** Second Verse (Not a Lamp; Ladylike – Blunt; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Unwanted Advice; Zucchini Bread; Hot Apple; Casper's House)  
 **Word Count:** 1185 words

(^^)  
 **How to Burn Bridges and Teach Boys**  
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"Lily, I'm sorry that I upset you," Severus said from behind her. He was standing close enough to her back that she could feel his body heat, even through their robes. If she stood from her spot at the Gryffindor table, she would be forced to move almost intimately along his body. "Can we go back to the way things were? Please?"

"Step away, Severus," Lily said as evenly as possible.

Even with the stress of OWLs finally over, her patience was frayed. For the past week, Severus had appeared every time she happened to be alone. He always said the same thing: he was sorry _for upsetting her_ and can they go back to being friends? At least this time, he remembered to tack on a _please_ , even if it was like he had almost forgotten to do so.

He still hadn't moved.

"Step away, Severus," Lily repeated, impatient at the need. "I wish to stand up and I refuse to plaster myself against you while I do so."

Finally, he gave her a bit of space. He still didn't go very far, she found when she had turned around after standing. She gestured for him to take another step back before stepping over the bench to the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. The students around them had obviously sensed the confrontation about to happen, because they were beginning to point out the pair of former friends. Lily understood what he was trying to do, making an attempt in front of such large group of people.

Severus always did have the habit of underestimating her.

"What are you sorry for, Severus?" Lily almost felt pity when his entire face seemed to light up with hope. Did he really think that she was going to just give up her stance if he badgered her enough? Did he really know so little about her? "Are you sorry that calling me that _word_ upset me? Or are you sorry that you used that slur at all?"

"I _told_ you, Lily," he tried, his tone overly salacious. "I have to fit in with—"

"Death Eaters," she interrupted. She was not going to give him an inch, not any more. "You have to fit in with Death Eaters, or at least, future ones. You have to fit in with people who want people like me to die."

"You're _different_ , Lily—"

"How am I different, Severus?" She raised her chin and spread her arms wide. "Am I somehow less a Muggle-born? You _know_ my parents, Severus. You know my sister. Do you think they're secretly magical and just hiding it?"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yes, for upsetting me," she agreed readily. "So I ask you again: are you sorry that the slur upset me or that you used it at all?"

"You're making too big—"

"Oh, am I ruining your staged manipulation? I'd say that I was sorry, but I am experiencing a bit of difficulty in that department currently. I wouldn't hold my breath for any kind of reconciliation, Snape. I know my value, and guess what? It's not low enough to be friends with a bigot."

"I'm not—"

"Oh, but you are. _In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends_. Every single time you let them talk about the inherent inferiority of Muggles and Muggle-borns, you were betraying me. Every single time you joined in on the talk, you were betraying me. What will happen when talk becomes action, Severus? Why shouldn't I think that you wouldn't gladly become a Death Eater?"

"I told you—"

"And your excuses—"

"Stop interrupting me!"

"Why? Why should I respect your empty recitations when I have already told you repeatedly that I am not interested in anything you have to offer? 'Not interested' is not code for 'try harder'! The fact that you don't get that is terrifying for any woman who may come across your path. How long until you add 'rapist' to your list of achievements, Severus? Has it already happened?"

"Oh, Evans got your incantation, Snivellus."

At Potter's words, Lily literally saw red. She hadn't even thought that was possible. With a slowness that was entirely due to the struggle she was having not drawing her wand, Lily turned towards the prat. He was grinning like he had won something, with his typical partners in crime smiling beside him. Pettigrew was even snickering, the action barely hidden behind his hands. Only Remus looked mildly discomforted by the commotion, but like _always_ , he was doing nothing to stop what was going on, despite now being prefect and it being his duty.

Something must have shown on her face because the four self-titled marauders lost their mirth along with all the blood in their faces.

"You're a fine one to talk, James Potter," she snapped. The hard guttural edge that screamed Cokeworth's location in Shropshire bleed into her speech. "Five full years now you have done the exact same thing. I tell you that I am not interested. I tell you to leave me alone; that I would sooner date a poisonous dart frog; that I would snog a mountain troll before considering you. Yet you still pursue me like a hound after a fox!"

"In his defense, you are rather foxy," Black offered, only to visibly hunch in on himself when Lily's eyes landed on him. The fine tremble she could see going through the brash boy almost made her pity him.

 _Almost_.

"His attraction does not give him permission to disrespect my stated boundaries! I have said 'not interested' and what does that not mean?"

"It doesn't mean 'try harder'," Black recited. Pettigrew and Remus echoed the sentiment. Lily steeled herself before forcing herself to meet Potter's eyes.

"But what if he—"

"No 'buts'! If you cared about me as an actual person, then I'm afforded the right to my own autonomy, including personal boundaries. When you ignore my stated boundaries, you are telling me what you want is more important than me. I will _never_ , not in a _billion years_ , ever date someone who didn't care about me as a person and treated me like an object or some kind of prize to be won! 'Not interested' does not mean 'try harder', not ever!"

She turned back to where Severus was still standing. His dark eyes glittered with his suppressed anger, probably at being publicly embarrassed like this. She felt no pity in that regard. He chose the venue, not her. It was on his own head if this incident cost him his precious reputation.

"Let me make this perfectly clear, Severus Snape: I am not interested in being your friend. I am barely interested in being in your general vicinity. As far as I am concerned, you are nothing but a murdering rapist waiting for a victim! I have no interest in nursing a viper at my breast. Leave. Me. Alone."

With those words, she turned on her heels and stormed out of the Great Hall.

She left behind more than just the Leaving Feast.


End file.
